Two Americans fall to their deaths while scaling sea cliffs on Spanish island

Two American men plunged to their deaths while scaling sea cliffs on Spain's holiday island of Majorca, police said on Wednesday.

The bodies of the pair -- aged 25 and 35 -- were found on Monday floating in the water near the Cueva de es Cossi in the east of the Mediterranean island, a spokeswoman for the Guardia Civil police said. Their names were not released.

They had been practicing deep-water soloing, a form of rock climbing without ropes that relies solely on the presence of water at the base of a climb to protect against injury from falls.

"It appears that there was a rockslide and they fell," the spokeswoman said.

Europa Press said a passer-by reportedly alerted authorities after seeing a body floating in the sea. Emergency services launched a lifeboat, a helicopter and two jet skis, Europa Press said.

A second body was found inside a cave. There were no witnesses to their deaths, according to Europa Press.  

Spain's maritime rescue service recovered their remains, which were taken to the nearby port of Portocolom.

The area has long been popular for deep water soloing, also known as psicobloc. While the sport is usually practiced on sea cliffs at high tide, it can also be done on climbs above reservoirs and rivers.

Pro climber Eneko Pou told Explorersweb that climbers in the area are warned against ascending more than 20 meters because of shallow water beneath the cliffs.  

The Associated Press contributed to this report.